I finally heard back from all my PhD program
applications. Only one of them
completely accepted me so it made the choice a lot easier. I was honestly worried about choosing the
right path to balance what I’m good at and what I want to accomplish with my
life. I kept feeling like one or the
other program would open some neat doors and close some others that I didn’t
want closed. So, the choice is removed
and it’s just up to me to make what I’ve got work. Sort of like an arranged marriage: you don’t
have to worry about silly details like “does he fart in bed?” or “will she
really keep calling her friends for 3 hours a night?” You’re married so you stay in love and treat
each other well because…that’s what you’re committed to.
So the program will be Instructional Psychology and
Technology at BYU. This kind of
psychology will not involve me prescribing people drugs. And actually it will not take me so far away
from the second language teaching and learning that I felt I should be
doing. The program focuses on research,
instructional design, evaluation and measurement. Basically I will learn how to help improve both
the in-class and out-of-class experience for students. I will have a second language focus and will
be able to bend all my learning towards foreign language teaching and learning,
whether that be during my program or afterwards.
BYU will be great in its own way. Tuition is cheap, housing is relatively cheap
and the education is good. Finding
regular funding will be harder, though.
It’s a quieter campus and we like that; I’ll be there to study. And it’s not like we want to take our
children to all-night parties. We have our
own wild parties every night at home: they involve poopy diapers, karaoke to
the same song 12 times in a row at 3am, and waking up in different bedrooms
than you fell asleep in. We won’t be missing
anything.
The hard part is that a position at Hawai’i just popped
up. It’s a place Trish worked and
studied before, and the people there love her and want her back. It’s a real salary compared to scrimping and
saving while I get ready to be fully employed.
But we wanted to switch out and have Trish at home while I work, so this
will be a bit of an adventure and lesson in humility and creativity (for both
of us).
I’m not sure all our
friends will understand or agree with our decision. But if you know us and the kinds of things we
value and enjoy, the kinds of challenges we love to take on, then it probably
will make more sense you’ll see how it fits in with who we are. Trisha isn’t giving up her training or
education, she’s applying it in a different way. She certainly won’t be giving up mentoring or
teaching—I’m not even talking about our daughter. She’ll be helping me be a good graduate
student. In fact, a lot of my understanding
of graduate school and a lot of what made my statement of purpose strong(er?)
was based on principles that I’ve learned from her. Furthermore, she’s more likely to go on
foreign adventures in following my career track—yet another thing we value.
So that’s the latest news.
We’re excited. Perhaps best of
all is that we finally know where we’re going next. It’s like “I don’t care if you send me to a
prison camp in the freaking Yukon Territory making Nutella out of ice cubes,
just pleeeeeease tell me where I’m going already so I can start making some
plans.” The long weeks of desperation are
over.
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